Goll Dannon and the Red Blade
The assault on the party’s fake caravan continues, and a new foe enters the fray: a mountain goat gracefully descends the side of the cliff towards Kodachi and Grub, slowly transforming into an intimidating man in black full plate armor, stag’s horns emerging from the side of his helmet. He is escorted by two spectral hounds, the same that Kodachi briefly spotted in Cardun. Kodachi hides in a crate, while the armored man begins to search through the upturned wagon, fervently looking for something. Kodachi launches a surprise attack, but fails to pierce the thick armor, and narrowly escapes his opponents grasp and makes his escape. Denton makes short work of his horse-man opponent, while Bundly and Liam tackle the hawk-men, forcing one to flee and knocking the other unconscious. The remaining bandits flee when they realize there’s nothing of value to be stolen, and the party reconvenes. Grub chases after the bandits, hoping to find their hideout, while the rest of the team revive the unconscious hawk-man Albertoe, using one of Kodachi’s poisons to make him amenable to the party’s demand of leading them to the bandit’s hideout. Meanwhile, Grub has followed the armored figure back to his camp, and carefully avoids the ghostly hounds to infiltrate the man’s tent. He looks emaciated, with sickly skin and wispy grey hairs, and doesn't appear to cast a shadow. He seems to obsess over an ‘it’, that ‘it’ wasn’t in the caravan, and wonders where he can find ‘it’. Grub takes the opportunity to liberate the man of his ill-gotten gold, and recover a book depicting an old blade made of red medal. The rest of the party catches up and attacks the bandits guarding the camp, but are outnumbered when the armored man, his hounds and additional bandits show up. They beat a hasty retreat and return to Cardun with the information and goods they acquired. With Denton’s knowledge of important characters of the Crusades, along with the information in the book Grub stole, they’re able to determine that the armored man appears to be Goll Dannon, aka the Horned Knight, a man who used to be in Stuthbert’s retinue. Goll was charged with recovering an artifact sword known as the Red Blade, a powerful pre-crusade weapon created and used by a coven of wizards to resist Stuthbert’s rule. Though Goll was successful, he was seduced by the blade’s power and turned on Stuthbert, but his coup failed, and Goll was killed and the blade hidden away in a vault. Rumor is that the vampiric red blade was later stolen from the vault and taken to somewhere in Cardun… Finally, the party returns to Cardun where they report to King Reighland, who is delighted at their success and offers them a fabulous reward of magnificently crafted porcelain dolls depicting the parties heroic triumphs. Foolishly, they decline the reward, and take meager quantities of worthless coin instead. They ask him about Goll Dannon and the Red Blade, and Reighland confirms the story, but says it is just that: a story, and that Goll has been dead since the crusades. He says that the man they battled must have just been using the story of Goll to create an intimidating persona. When asked, Reighland reveals his plan to deal with the bandits, unveiling the vast quantities of black powder being refined in the mountain depths, which will be used to bury the bandit camp and set an example for any that would oppose him. The party recovers from their wounds, resupplies, and begins their journey to Caldbeck, following the footsteps of Loth and Methian to the realm of giants… Category:Weaver Category:Session Summary